Why Are Blendtec Blades Dull?

Why are Blendtec blades dull?

It might seem counter-intuitive to favor a dull blade over a sharp one, but there are a few important reasons why it makes very good sense for the company.

• Power: Blendtec motors are so powerful that sharpness really doesn’t matter. It’s better to make more contact, against more produce, at a blisteringly fast speed.
• Durability: Blendtec blades are fashioned from extremely strong, thick steel. This gives them a longer lifespan, and you don’t need to worry about them “dulling” over time.
• Maintenance: This is more of a bonus, rather than a reason to use dull blades, but they’re a lot easier to clean manually than razor-sharp units.

That’s the very simplified answer to the question, then.

If you want to learn more, then in the rest of this article I’m going to go into greater detail about each aspect of this design choice.

(If you want to explore more of my blending and juicing guides, have a look through the archive I’ve put together.)

The Design Of The Blades

Blendtec blender blades are manufactured using cold-forged hardened steel. The blades are up to 80% thicker than the competition’s and ten times stronger, according to Blendtec itself.

When you’re talking about ingredients like hardened chunks of ice or frozen fruit and vegetables, you don’t want to slice away at them.

Instead, you want to smash them. Absolutely pulverize them into a million tiny pieces.

When a blade unit is rotating at literally hundreds of miles per hour, the sharpness of the blades really doesn’t come into it.

What matters is the power driving that blade unit, rather than the angle or precision of impact.

That brings us neatly onto…

The Power Of A Blendtec Motor

As well as making some of the toughest, most durable blades in the business, Blendtec also makes some of the most powerful motors.

The motor in your domestic Blendtec blender stands up to anything you’ll find in a commercial environment.

That motor power is backed up with patented drive socket technology that efficiently transfers the power into the actual blade unit.

Each element is built to last, at every stage of the engineering. That’s one of the reasons why Blendtec is able to offer 8 year warranties on its blenders.

Easier To Clean & Care For

To be absolutely clear, the reason Blendtec uses dull blades is to achieve optimal performance.

There’s one extra bonus to having a dull blade build into your container jar though.

If the self-clean cycle – or a spell in the dishwasher – doesn’t get the jar back to mint condition, it’s much safer and easier to manually clean around dulled blades.*

Again, this is more of a bonus benefit of using dull blades, rather than a reason to build them into a blender design for the sake of it!

(* It also goes without saying: please, please, detach the container from the base before even thinking of putting your hands inside the thing. I won’t paint you a picture…)

Wrapping Up

So there you go!

Now you know why Blendtec blades are dull, and why it’s actually a very good thing that they’re made that way.